Life's a Mess
by prettychinese15
Summary: Kyoko and Sho get stuck in a storage room at Sho's agency and Kyoko's demons fight whether or not if they should kill him right there, right now. But if they do, Kyoko might cause a lot of problems for her acting career as well as Ren. Rated T to be safe.
1. Unexpected Meet

**LIFE'S A MESS**

**1. Unexpected Meet**

**Disclaimer:** _Skip Beat and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura._

**A/N:** _I can't believe I'm writing this story on the night before my finals. I must be crazy. (T_T) It's my first Skip Beat! fanfic though. Be nice! (Chapter re-uploaded on 5-27-09)_

* * *

The door creaked to a close with an ominous like sound until it closed with a loud snap which echoed for what felt like a thousand years through Mogami Kyoko's ears.

"NOOOOOO!!!!" Kyoko screamed. She started clawing at the metal doorframe as her Grudge Demons tried to go through the cracks of the door but failed.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" She banged on the door. "You can't do this to me! Let me OUT!! LET… ME… OUUUUUT!!!!!"

"Oh, will you please just **shut**... the _hell_ up?" Fuwa Sho exclaimed. "Someone will come soon enough okay? But for now, it looks like we're stuck in here," he said as he looked around the dark storage room filled with boxes and crates for different various scenes. He froze, and he slowly turned around to feel the wrath of Kyoko's menacing aura that shook the earth. Even the boxes and crates were rattling a little from her fearful aura.

Kyoko's eyes told Sho clearly that she thought that this was all entirely his fault. Meanwhile, the Grudge demons were plotting on how to kill Shotaro.

_Grudge demon 1(Hate): "We should destroy him now while we still have the chance." It smirked devilishly. "The less witnesses the better."_

_Grudge demon 2(Malice): "But wait, we are in enemy's territory now, Akatoki Agency." it pointed out thoughtfully. "This could lead to catastrophic problems if they find him unconscious when we get out of here."_

_Grudge demon 3(Grudge): "That's true. We should leave him unscathed for this round or else the cast of Dark Moon cannot use the filming scenes because of us."_

_Grudge demon 4(Vendetta): "Dammit. So we leave Shotaro unharmed. Agreed?"_

_All demons together: "Agreed!"_

Kyoko sighed in defeat. She slumped down against the wall of the door and put a hand across her forehead and eyes. _I can't believe that I'm stuck with this **idiot** in this kind of situation_, she thought darkly to herself. While Kyoko was sulking and feeling sorry for herself, Sho was still barely enduring the scary aura she was still emitting, if anyone forgot. But now, instead of menacing and furious, Kyoko's swirling mass of dark aura was now a dark, depressed and somewhat a pissed off black vortex. Sho didn't dare go near her during her foul mood; knowing the consequences. Instead, he thought of how all the things that happened that led to this.

_The cast for Dark Moon was using a filming building that belonged to Akatoki Agency. Director Ogata knew that Kyoko would probably feel uncomfortable for being in place that belonged to Fuwa-kun's agency. He knew of the incident in Karuizawa involving Fuwa-kun and Kyoko but he didn't bring it up, knowing that it would upset Kyoko-chan. So he tried to reason with her without bringing up the stalker but of course, he failed so he gave up and he went along to the head of the group to lead them to the filming scenes. _

_Kyoko was still grumbling to herself and was swaying back and forth like a walking corpse. _

_"I'm in the enemy's territory. I'm in the enemy's territory. I could be attacked any moment. I'm in their lair. I'm in their hideout. I'm in the enemy's territory…"_

_Suddenly, she banged right into a hard wall and almost fell backwards if not for two strong arms holding her back up. It was then she realized that she didn't bump into a wall. She had just walked straight into the arms of her arch-nemesis: Fuwa Shotaro!!!_

_"Aw, shit!" she cursed._

_"What the hell are you doing here?" Sho asked, curious as to why she was here in his agency's building._

_Kyoko quickly slapped Sho's hands away as regained her composure and put one hand on her hip. "I am here to film for Dark Moon. Director Ogata wanted to use this place to do the filming scenes because of the setting he had in mind. Now if you excuse me…"_

_Kyoko suddenly cut short as she noticed for the first time that there was nobody out in the hallway besides her and the bastard. Crap! She got separated from the group! She has to go catch up with them fast! She quickly walked past Sho without finishing her sentence. _

_"Oi," Sho called out to her, quickly catching up behind her. "You're going the wrong way."_

_Kyoko had walked into a dark room and found herself surrounded by cardboard boxes and crates. The only light that lit up the room was the light from the hallway from the open metal door._

_"Oi," Sho called again as he stepped in the room._

_Kyoko turned around without looking at him and walked right past him just as the door groaned to a close. _

_A full minute passed before he heard her blood curling scream._

_"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"_

So yeah, that was basically what happened.

Sho glanced at Kyoko again from the corner of his eye as he noticed that the scary aura had calmed down. He immediately regreted it. As soon as Kyoko felt his eyes on here she turned her glare at him with a pair of eyes that only belonged to a demon.

Sho quickly looked away; freaked.

Kyoko sighed again as she pulled her knees close to her chest and hugged them tightly. It was going to be some time before someone gets them out, she thought. She sighed again.

Sho understood his childhood friend's silence so he just nodded to himself and folded his arms across his chest and leaned onto a stack of crates, sighing but not saying anything.

So the two waited.

**

* * *

A/N: **_So how was it? Please review! Kind criticism and suggestions are welcome!! Arigato!! ^^_


	2. Frantic Search

**2. Frantic Search**

**Disclaimer: **_Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura. _

**A/N: **_I feel depressed. I wonder why? I hope I did well on my finals. (May 28, 2009)_

* * *

"So..." Ren's manager, Yukihito Yashiro-san, looked up at him.

"So, what?" Ren asked with no peculiar interest as he shut the car door beside him.

Yashiro sighed with exasperation. This boy just doesn't get it, does he?

"So you are finally able to see Kyoko-chan again, and you haven't showed any sign of joy or happiness." _Not even a smile, _Yashiro-san added in his head, as Ren drove onto the street.

Ren didn't say anything as he fixed his eyes on the road. True, that he hasn't been able to see Kyoko for the past two weeks since they were doing scenes with only Mizuki and Katsuki, so there weren't any Mio scenes. But for today, they were filming the episode where Mio expresses her hate for Katsuki in person for the first time and additionally, they would be working on more Mio and Katsuki scenes together for the next two months. Ren was quite excited to see how Kyoko would do. He wanted to see and feel Mio's wrath from Kyoko's acting skills up close, and in person. Of course, he would never admit that to anyone, not even to himself. First, people would think he is a masochist. Second, Yashiro-san would probably engulf him with his strange way of thinking on why Ren would feel that way. But yes, he was indeed happy to see Kyoko again.

Ren parked the car in the parking lot that belonged to the fifty-story building that they were going to use to film today. When Ren first learned that they were going to use a building that belonged to Akatoki Agency, he was not at all pleased. He had a feeling on how Kyoko would react and apparently, he was right but he just didn't witness that. But he was a professional actor. And there was no way in hell that he would complain to the director and cause suspicions that would ruin his career. He knew that Kyoko would feel that way too so he didn't say anything. Kyoko was aiming to become a professional actress so he knew that she was going sit still and act like one. At least… he hoped.

As they got out of the car, Yashiro tried to make Ren spill the beans. He wasn't about to give up that easily.

"Ren," he asked, bending down as they walked across the lot to get a better view of the brunette's face. "Are you telling me that you haven't missed your dear little kouhai-chan for the past two weeks at all?" his eyes growing all puppy like. "AT ALL?"

_He's trying to make me spill, _Ren thought as his left eyebrow twitched. Of course he missed her! Terribly, in fact.

"Of course I miss her," he said casually. Yashiro grinned devilishly but stopped short as Ren continued his sentence. "As well as Momose-san, Oohara-san, Director Ogata-san, oh and I must not forget Iizuka-san whom I haven't seen and talked to in a while. Oh and…"

_Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!! SHUT UP right now before I seriously kick that overly gentlemanly-sized ass of yours Ren and before I shut your lying fat mouth up by myself, _Yashiro thought furiously while a vein as big as Mars was pulsing in his forehead.

The first thing they felt when they walked into the main entrance of the building was a swoosh of air going right past them, and a big trail of dust behind them too. And then another… and another, and another.

Right and left, people were running past them frantically, too busy to notice that they were even there. Yashiro and Ren sweat dropped.

"KYOKO-SAAAN!!!" a man's voice yelled.

"FUWA-KUUUN!!!" yelled a woman.

"SHO-CHAAAN!!!" called another.

"KYOKO-CHAAAN!!!"

_Okay…._

"Ano…" Yashiro inquired to the last girl who almost flew past them. "Can you tell us what's going on?"

"Oh, Yashiro-san. Tsuruga-san," the blonde girl acknowledged. It was Momose-san. "Hey," she continued as she swiped a sheet of sweat from her forehead.

"How long have you been there?" she asked, confused. "Didn't you hear the news? Kyoko-chan and Fuwa-san are nowhere to be found. Why aren't you guys looking?" she looked from Yashiro-san who was looking at Ren, to a dumbfounded Tsuruga-san.

Ren was in shock.

**WHAT?!?**

His Kyok-… _erm_…

_Mogami-san_ and _Fuwa __**Sho **_were both missing?!? This was bad. This was really, really bad. What if they had bumped into each other? What would Sho do or say to her if they did? What if he confessed to her like he almost did back in Karuizawa, before Ren stopped him? He would beat him at his own game.

_Shit._

Ren thrust his bag into Yashiro's arms and turned into the hallway, on his search to find Kyoko before anything bad happens.

This left a very confused Yashiro-san and Momose-chan behind him as he walked briskly away, with those long legs of his, with big red question marks hanging around in the background.

Momose-chan was the first one to snap out of it. "Well, I better continue searching. You too, Yashiro-san. Help out. Bye!" she waved, as she ran off in the opposite direction yelling Kyoko's name.

But Yashiro wasn't listening. He just had a huge, satisfied, yet evil grin set on his face pointed at the direction to where Ren had already disappeared to. He looked comically funny with that huge smirk on his face and with Ren's big bag in his hands.

He threw a fist in the air. _Finally, a reaction!!_

_Thank… you… SHO!!! _He thought victoriously as he litterally skipped off happily to the general direction of the where filming/changing rooms were to leave Ren's stuff there.

As soon as he closed the door, he dropped Ren's bag onto the ground and started laughing maniacally. "Mwuah ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Muah ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

Yashiro turned around with his fingers to his chin as his glasses flashed white, hiding his hazel, brown eyes while reacting to the light. _This is going to get interesting. _REN.

Then he started cracking up like hell again, before Director Ogata opened the door and scolded him for not joining in on the search for Kyoko-chan.

**

* * *

A/N: **_So how'd u like it? I've already started writing the next chapter. What do u think is going to happen? Feel free to give ideas and suggestions! Reviews!! Remember that constructive criticism are always welcomed!! X3 (I'm going to try to update every Monday or Thursday)_


	3. Frantic Search Part 2

**3. Frantic Search (Part 2)**

**Disclaimer: **_Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura._

**A/N: **_Chapter 3 is up! I was hoping to do a longer one but I guess this is what came out of my head while writing. Oh well, maybe next time._

* * *

There once was a very pissed off actress.

There once was a very much ticked off singer.

Both who have been stuck in a dark and gloomy storage room, with no connections to the outside world whatsoever, and without food or water for _four_ straight hours. I repeat…

**Four…straight…hours**.

And what was worse, was that evidently, the girl hated the poor guy's guts and very much so wanted to murder him right there. It took every last ounce of her willpower not to kill him right there in that storage room, _with no witnesses_. Yeah, that last part was the part that killed her. There weren't any witnesses and she was just _so close_!!

And the guy? Well first of all, he was a spoiled bastard who had a very limited amount of patience and second of all, although he would probably never openly admit it, he secretly in love with the only girl on the planet who wanted him dead. Hey, it wasn't her fault. It was himself to blame when he for dumped her when her heart was pure and innocent. Not to mention totally and entirely dedicated to him. _Idiot_. Sho really wanted to talk to Kyoko. But unfortunately for him, she didn't even want to look at him. So what did they do during those four gruesome and painfully long hours?

Well during the first hour, there was a long and waiting silence that barely passed the line for patience.

During the second hour, the young actress began to pace while her precious Grudge demons tried to find a way out. Through the cracks of the walls, through the cracks of the door...anything. They were pityingly desperate.

During the third hour, the blonde singer began to tap his index finger on his folded arms impatiently as well as his right foot along with the rhythm of his fingers on the tiled floor with growing irritation.

And it was finally during the middle of the fourth hour, when both Mogami Kyoko and Fuwa Sho came up with the most brilliant idea at the exact same time.

"MY CELLPHONE!!!" both people cried out in union in pure delight. (_Victorious music playing in the background __**Ta da**__!!!)_

"I'll never neglect you ever again," Kyoko cooed while rubbing her hot pink cell phone against her cheek in caress.

"Technology, I have never loved you so much," Sho grinned as he opened up his cell.

A full minute passed.

"Ah."

"What?" Kyoko looked over at him in plain annoyance.

Sho looked up at her with no sign of that triumphant grin that was on his face just a minute ago, and held his cell phone, screen facing up, at Kyoko and said the two god forbidden words:

"No reception."

Well, that was probably true. Why would there be phone reception in an old storage room?

But it took about a full sixty seconds for the words that were possibly taboo to enter, process, and sink into Kyoko's already-about-to-go-insane mind.

"WHUUUUUUUAAAAAATTTTTTTTT?!?!?!" Her jaw was literally on the floor.

"No reception," Sho repeated, looking back to his screen with a look of unbelief carved into his face.

Kyoko quickly turned and dialed the first number on her speed dial; not remembering or caring that if it was a person that would possibly get them out of here. _Du, du, du, du…_

Kyoko sat there, a frozen statue.

"NOOOOOOOO-HO-HO-HO-HO!!!!!" Kyoko sobbed, tears making a huge lake to where her face was on the floor, fist banging into the ground. "My hopes, my dreams!!! WHAAAAAHHHH!!!"

'_Hopes and dreams', what? _Sho muttered to himself as he bent down in front of Kyoko, taking hold of her hands around the wrists as he tried to refrain her from hurting herself. "Kyoko! Kyoko, come on woman! Get a grip!!" Inside, Sho was actually a little smug that he had an excuse to touch her and have her so close to him again.

But then that all disappeared when Kyoko pulled her hands away from Sho's iron grip and grabbed the collar of his rose red shirt and started shaking him back and forth like crazy. "When the hell is someone going to notice that we're in here, already?!" she screamed, comical tears in her eyes.

"I-i-i-i dooooon't knoooow," Sho said dizzily, seeing double, as Kyoko let go of him and went to the nearest wall (the door, actually) and started banging her head on it.

"Let…me…out…al-rea-dy!!" Kyoko screamed almost incoherently as Sho tried to regain full consciousness again.

--

_Disconnection tone? _Ren thought as he looked at his screen of his cell phone incredulously. _Did she turn off her cellphone? No, then it would actually dial, _he mused as he turned around another corner once again for probably, the millionth time that day.

_Ugh, this is hopeless. I'll never find those two through this stupid maze, _Ren thought with exasperation as he looked up on the map on the wall. He looked away from the map and set his eyes onto the endless hallways, filled with plants, counters, waiting chairs, and searching people, that lay in front of him; north, south, east, and west.

_Kyoko, where are you?_

_--_

Outside of the building, a man in black stepped out of a black limo and into the night air. He stood casually in front of the main entrance with his hands in the pockets of his long overcoat that hung gracefully down to his ankles. His shoulder-length light-colored hair shone in the moonlight.

He had just overheard the news of the two missing people, Mogami Kyoko and Fuwa Sho, who were missing since 6:57 pm this evening who disappeared in the building of Fuwa Sho's own Akatoki Agency. Therefore he took his leisurely time coming over to the building where all the commotion was. He looked up upon the tall skyscraper that lay in front of him and into the night sky where the moon was full. There wasn't a single star in the sky.

The man smirked deviously and licked his full lips with his long tongue. He started walking toward the entrance of the building and the automatic doors obediently opened for him.

The man grinned, as he strolled through the empty hallways leisurely toward the source of the dark aura filled with hate he was so familiar with.

_Where are you, my dear little Red Riding Hood?_

--

Yashiro-san looked at his watch. It was half past twelve. Now he was starting to get worried. He took out his cellphone and dialed Ren's number.

"_Hello?" _Ren's voice came through the end of the receiver_._

"Ren, it's me. Any luck with Kyoko-chan or Fuwa-kun?" the blonde manger said while looking out the window and out onto the gleaming city of Tokyo.

"_No, I haven't found them yet,"_ came out Ren's reply. He sounded a little distracted even though he asked, _"What about you, Yashiro-san? Any new leads?"_

"No, nothing on our side yet. Listen, I know you want to keep searching for Kyoko-chan but right now it's really late. We should go home and leave this to security."

After he finished, Yashiro braced himself, holding his phone at arm's length, waiting for the outburst about "_How dare you say such a thing like that_" and other stuff from Ren he expected and wanted to hear. But none came.

A few minutes passed.

Yashiro put his phone back to his ear, confused. "Ren?"

"_I said fine, where do you want to meet?" _Ren said in an impatient tone.

Okay. This was just _**too**_ much for Yashiro to bear. But at least his answer came out sane.

"In the lobby, on the ground floor. Unless you want to meet, take the elevator on the west wing of the building, and meet me on the fifth."

"_Got it."_

"See you there," Yashiro sighed as he clicked his phone to a close.

Even though the blonde manager was able to answer coherently, during the entire time, Yashiro was screaming inside his head, _YOU FAIL THE TEST AS A CAPABLE YOUNG LOVER!!! YOU STUPID, STUPID YOUNG MAN!!!_, over and over with a huge vein busting in his head. He wanted nothing more than to go up to wherever Ren was and strangle him dead.

_I am going to drown him in his own shame, _he swore to himself as he stomped off toward the west side of the building.

--

Ren clutched his phone at his side while standing there, motionless in the empty hallway angrily. He ground his teeth in pure frustration as he turned around and stalked off in the direction of where he just came from.

_Damn it._

--

Sho was leaning against the wall next to the metal doorframe with his hands hooked in the pockets of his long black pants with a bored look on his face. His body vibrated every time Kyoko banged her head against the door making Sho vibrate along too, every time Kyoko connected her skull to the metal. Not that he particularly enjoyed Kyoko's pain, he just really didn't have anything else better to do, locked up in that dark room.

His watch told him that Kyoko has been kneeling down, facing the wall, banging her already purple forehead against the door for the last 45 minutes. Oh, and it was also half past twelve, too.

"Kyoko," he sighed, "You're really going to start bleeding to death if you don't stop _**now**_."

Kyoko just simply ignored him as if he didn't exist and continued torturing herself.

"Fine, have it your way," Sho muttered to himself as he crouched down low so he could whisper in Kyoko's ear. She flinched visibly but didn't move. He smirked.

"By the time we're outta here," he murmured with his lips almost touching her delicate pink ear, "You're going to have a cracked skull and not to mention a killer bruise on your pretty head."

Kyoko froze as he continued.

"What will your director say if he sees it? Didn't you say that hurting an actress's face was the most unforgivable thing to do? Wouldn't it ruin your career, especially in the middle of filming in a drama? Didn't you say that you were going to become the top actress and make me cry 'Mercy' and grovel at your feet?" His smirk grew wider.

Kyoko didn't answer.

Sho knew that he was playing with death as he felt Kyoko's anger underneath him flexing to strangle him. A bead of sweat escaped from his brow and rolled off the side of his face and dropped from his chin as he saw Kyoko's aura restrain itself from constricting itself around his body, but he didn't move from his position or stop smiling.

Luckily for him, Kyoko's demons were trying to act rationally and were convincing each other of the consequences that would occur if they hurt Sho.

_(Vendetta): "He's so close! It's too painful to see that he's right there next to us, mocking us, and we can't lay a finger on him! Arrgh!!!_

Malice, Hate, and Grudge were restraining Vendetta, by pulling at the end of her tail, from releasing all hell at the blonde singer in front of them.

_(Hate): "You think we want to hold you back, you idiot?!"_

_(Malice): "We want to kill the bastard as much as you do, you know!"_

_(Grudge): "Be strong sisters! We must resist our bloodlust for this moronic idiot! Fight back!_

The Grudge Demons were finally able to pull struggling Vendetta back into Kyoko's head and Sho was once again safe from harm, thanks to Kyoko's common sense and rationality.

As soon as Kyoko had stopped banging her head on the wall and put her hands in her lap, Sho moved back to his standing position and leaned against the doorframe again, closing his eyes and sighing quietly.

"Ne, Shotaro," came Kyoko's low voice.

Sho's eyes fluttered open in shock. During almost the entire five hours, he couldn't even make small talk with her since she steadily ignored him. But now, she was openly talking to him? Hell must have broken lose.

Sho's face didn't reveal anything of what he just thought of as he looked over at her kneeling form with a composed uninterested look on his face. "What?"

Kyoko didn't immediately reply. Her auburn-colored bangs hid her gold, butterscotch eyes. How he wanted to bend down and turn her head facing him with her chin to read their expression! But he knew that this would upset her greatly if he touched her so he waited patiently for her answer.

"Never mind," she said as she got up and looked up at the door in front of her.

"What?" Sho demanded as he got off the wall to face Kyoko. He wanted to know what she was about to say."If you have something to say then just say-"

"Shouldn't we be making more noise to get someone to notice us?" Kyoko interrupted.

Sho gritted his teeth in aggravation. "No, it's past midnight already. It's almost one o'clock in the morning. No one should be in this building except for security," he said as he leaned back against the wall again with his arms folded across his chest but this time, in a stubborn gesture.

"Hmm," Kyoko mused uninterestedly as she examined the light coming from the cracks of the door coming off from the hallway. "If no one's here, then why are the lights in the hallway still on?" she asked him as if he was an idiot.

Sho understood the tone in her voice as he looked at her, pissed off. _Is she stupid? My agency's so rich that who gives a damn about the lights if they're still on at night. She must be thinking that if the lights are on then there are still people in the building. She's taking me for an idiot._

But he didn't get a chance to retort as they heard footsteps echoing in the hallway outside of the storage room, coming their way.

Sho looked down. There were shadows emitting directly in front of them from the cracks of the door. He was about to open his mouth and complain about how long he was stuck in there and how slow they took to find him, when Kyoko suddenly clamped her hand over his mouth, hugging him tight to her body so he wouldn't move, with a terrified look on her face.

Sho was not expecting this. She was just a _bit _too close. He felt his face heat up. No, now's not the time to be thinking about such things. Why is she so scared? Doesn't she want to get out? He glanced down at her terrified expression.

Kyoko knew that demonic aura anywhere. She did not want to be anywhere _near_ that person for as long as she lived. She quickly dragged Sho as quietly as possible to the back of the room behind a pile of boxes. She didn't remove her hand away from Sho's face as she sat, leaning her back against the pile looking behind from it, while keeping Sho close to her body.

_Why? All of a sudden!!_ Sho thought frantically as he tried to remove Kyoko's hand from his face. He noticed that her other arm was around his waist in a rather tight hold. He felt like his face was on fire as he pried her hand from his mouth.

"Kyoko, what are you doing?" he hissed.

"Shh," Kyoko shushed while still looking back at the closed door behind her shoulder.

_I've never seen her this crazed_, thought Sho as he looked up at Kyoko's frantic face with worry. _I wonder what's wrong._

Then the door blasted open with an inhuman force that banged it against the wall behind it and made cracks within the cement. An unearthly wind was gushing into the room and was rustling and tipping everything over in it; tilting boxes of crates over, making props fall, and even almost revealing the place where Kyoko and Sho lay hidden.

When Sho opened his eyes, he saw the last person he wanted to see in the light of the doorway.

_Reino! Of the Vie Ghoul Band!_

**

* * *

A/N: **_Yaaayy!! So Reino finally appears! I was dying to put in the next part in this chapter but I thought it would have been more fun if I left it as a cliffie. ^^ The angst people, the angst! Hee hee. I have gotten 8 reveiws so far and I need far more than that for motivation to keep writing. So please review. Oh, and when I said that I would be updating every Monday or Thursday, I meant every **other** Monday of Thursday. Sorry for the misunderstanding! But now, I'll try to update whenever I can, 'kay?_


	4. I'd Rather Die!

**4. I'd Rather Die!**

**Disclaimer: **_Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura._

**A/N: **_I am so sorry. So very, very, very, very, very, very, very sorry! School was finally out and I just wanted to do nothing but sleep. I am so very sorry. Forgive me!!! To thank you for all of your patience, I shall post 2 new chapters of Life's a Mess by the end of today(Thursday). And thank you for all of your reviews! They are the things that keep me motivated to keep on writing this story._

* * *

Aw, _hell _no.

_Reino?_

_Reino _was going to be the oneto come and save her from these endless hours of silent torture with Bastard numero uno?

That dog demon bastard from hell.

No way.

Nuh-uh.

Not in a thousand years.

_There is no way in hell am I going to be saved by the likes of him, _Kyoko thought furiously as she watched the damn Beagle look around the dark room.

_I'd rather die a million deaths before the day I ask for his help. Ugh. But not right now. I need to stay calm; I need to concentrate, _she thought to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Kyoko was willing her precious demons to not come out and stay put and at the same time trying to spontaneously erase their existence (just for a few minutes, of course).

_I am air. I'm air. I am air, _Kyoko prayed silently as she closed her eyes and sat perfectly still. But there was just one tinsy-itsy-bitsy little thing that she had forgotten about. She still had her left hand snaked around Sho's waist and her right was lying still on his chest.

If she was fully sane right now and not so freaked out about Reino, she would have dropped Sho in disgust and move as far away from him as the room allowed. But at the time, Kyoko was so frightened at the thought of Reino finding her, that she unconsciously grabbed Sho and kept him quiet without even trying.

Sho, on the other hand, was still in shock. His body was on the floor with his head lying against Kyoko's abdomen and his back leaned against Kyoko's lap. He couldn't ignore the screaming fact that Kyoko's hand was lying peacefully on his chest (without actually trying to strangle him for once). But he needed to stay calm. He had the same thoughts as Kyoko running in his head. There was no freaking way that he would ever want the Beagle's help.

No. Fucking. Way.

First of all, he hated that guy's guts.

Second, he is _not,_ repeat, _not_ owing him any favors.

And third, there was just no way in hell.

So he just lay still quietly in Kyoko's unintended embrace as both actress and singer held their breath in anticipation.

--

Reino looked around the small dark room. Just a few minutes ago, he had felt the familiar hate-filled aura coming from that particular hallway as he turned around the corner. Since there was only one door in that hallway, he simply willed the door to open at his command. But as he got closer, the aura had disappeared.

No, it was still there. But just faintly.

As he eyed the crates around him, he was trying to pick up any traces of hate behind them. But he got nothing. But still, that little feeling of loathing was still in the air. So he sighed and ran a hand through his light-colored hair.

"Kyoko," he spoke aloud, "I know you're in there but right now, I am not really obliged to come in there and drag you out myself."

_In other words, you're too lazy to get your butt in here,_ Sho and Kyoko thought darkly at the same time but they both stayed calm.

Reino continued, "I want to talk to you about something."

And the next words that came from the Beagle's mouth made Kyoko freeze in terror.

"I've come to talk to you about that boy who gave you that stone. I know who and where he is at the moment and I also know about his past." He turned to leave, "If you want to learn more about your precious little friend, I suggest you meet me at a designated place. Wait for my call.

"We don't want to have any eavesdroppers now do we?" He smirked. At this, Sho's left eyebrow twitched and it was quite obvious to who Reino was referring to.

"I will see you very soon, Kyoko."

And with that, he left the room.

As the Vie Ghoul member's footsteps died away, Kyoko and Sho remained in silence just in case he came back. In Sho's lying position, he could clearly see the terrified expression on Kyoko's face. Her hands were trembling and her eyes were wide open with dread. Sho sat up without a word as he freed himself from Kyoko's motionless form.

_Kyoko,_ Sho thought worriedly as he watched his childhood friend lift her hands up to press her palms to her eyes as she tried to protect herself from this horrible reality.

--

_Corn,_ Kyoko thought in despair as she tried not to think what has become of her friend over the past ten years. _What does he know? What does he know?_

She released her hands from her face and used them to hug herself, suddenly feeling very cold. Her body shivered involuntarily. No words can describe the emotions of inner turmoil that became of Kyoko's heart.

Kyoko was more worried about what has become of Corn than about meeting up with her would-be stalker from hell. She had felt torn apart of the hearing of the news that Corn was dead during her one of her first encounters with Reino. She didn't know what to do, or what to think. But one thing was for certain; Kyoko knew that she couldn't handle that much emotionally related pressure for a second time. Her mood swings have gotten a bit out of hand lately and it has taken a toll on her mental state.

After all, her emotions have been all over the place after Sho had dumped her. Not that she really cared anymore (but she's still hell-bent on getting her revenge on him, mind you) but her Demons and Angels _are_ the causes of her mental state right now.

The door hung wide open as the bright lights from the hallway, filled the passageway with light. She felt dizzy, sick, and a bit nauseas as she half-dragged herself up to get to the door. She wasn't even thinking about her quick escape from Sho. In fact, she had forgotten that she was even there, stuck in a storage room with him. Her mind was now focused fully on Corn as she tried to escape the worst case of scenario of what might have happened to him. She used the wall for support as she tried to make her way to the door. She was suddenly seeing double.

Sho stood up quietly after her and followed close behind. If it wasn't for her freaked out state right now, Sho would have been out of the door before you can say _Adios. _But he wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything funny until she gets home. Not that he knows where she lives.

_Maybe I could talk to Shouko-san, _he mused.

Suddenly, he snapped his head up as he noticed a rather large and heavy-looking crate tip off the edge of a metal shelf that was straight above Kyoko.

"Kyoko!" Sho screamed.

Kyoko looked up from her muggled mind and then everything blacked out.

The last thing she felt was the cool ground embracing her as unconsciousness took her and eased the immense pain that began throbbing through her head.

**

* * *

A/N: **_Why do I think that this sucked horribly? I feel a little ashamed of myself for posting such a short chapter after such a long time. I'll try to finish the fifth chapter by the end of today and make it a little longer and more exciting. Thank you so much for all of your patience and putting up with my late tardiness. So to all of my readers, I love you!!!_


	5. Lost

**5. Lost**

**Disclaimer: **_Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura._

**A/N: **_As I promised, Chapter 5. A lot of different POV's so keep up! (OOCness and spelling mistakes were corrected on June 24, 2009.)_

**

* * *

Kyoko's POV**

_I feel tired._

_I feel dizzy._

_My head hurts._

_Where am I?_

I opened my eyes and black dots danced before my vision, making everything all blurry. I was in an unfamiliar white room and the bed I was lying on was uncomfortable and lumpy. A few even lumpier pillows propped my head up. I noticed that it was bandaged. I looked around the room blankly and dizzily. How did I get here? Where was I? What happened? My head hurt too much as I tried to fight against my heavy eyelids.

"Mou! You're finally awake!" I turned my head a little and saw a beautiful girl with straight long black hair standing by my bedside. I stared back at her blankly. _So tired. Can't concentrate. _I closed my eyes again.

"Geez, you scared me half to death," the girl continued as she pulled a chair over and sat down, crossing her legs and folding her arms across her chest. She seemed to be angry at me as she continued to rant. Her way of talking sort of reminded me of a tiger. _Hmm, what is this feeling?_ _Nostalgia?_

"First I heard that you were lost in the Akatoki Agency building along with Fuwa Sho, next thing I knew, you were in an ambulance going straight to the ER. Geez what is wrong with you? Don't you ever make me worry about you like that ever again!" She was looking away when she said all of this while I stared at her with half-open eyes.

"I mean, you have people that care about you, you know. Can you imagine what I felt like when-"

"Who are you?" I asked not caring if I interrupted. I was just so tired.

--

**Kanae's POV**

"Who are you?"

I froze, as I slowly turned my head to face my best friend, my ears ringing in disbelief. I stared at Kyoko's exhausted face in shock, my mouth gaping open in denial. My arms and legs were still crossed as I sat there gaping at her in disbelief.

At that exact same moment, the door opened and two people stepped inside the room but I was too shocked to turn around to see who had entered.

--

**Ren's POV**

"What?!" I said in shock, my mask slipping from my usual calm facade, as Yashiro-san was leaning against the doorway of my apartment and using the wall as support, catching his breath. His hair was disheveled and his glasses were out of position as he repeated the godforsaken words I never wanted to hear.

"Kyoko's in the hospital! Fuwa-kun had called an ambulance to get her to the ER! He said a crate full of props fell on top of Kyoko! President Lory had just been contacted!" He said all in one breath. That was all I needed to hear.

I kept my face composed as I grabbed my keys and kicked my shoes on and thanked God that I was already fully dressed. I half-ran to the car as I heard Yashiro-san hurry to keep up with me. I got in the car and slammed the door shut behind me. Yashiro-san scrambled in and as soon as he was in, I put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space, and headed out toward the highway, barely scraping the sides of two cars as I drove frantically in between them. Horns blasted behind me as I drove at an inhuman speed to the hospital.

I parked the car on top of two parking spaces, not caring if I got a ticket later, and stormed into the building. The receptionist told me where Kyoko's room was as she looked at me with big adoring eyes as she spoke. I swear, if one person asks me for my autograph while I was in here, I am going to seriously murder someone. But I made my face smile as I thanked her and made my way to the 7th floor. I opened the door to Kyoko's room and there I saw her, her head bandaged, her hands over the white blankets, and her eyes looking exhausted.

I noticed that Kotonami-san was there as she sat in front of Kyoko, with her back towards me and her legs and arms crossed. She didn't look up at my noisy entrance. Instead, she just stared at Kyoko with a disbelieving look on her face. I was panting heavily as my hand was still on the door as I followed her gaze pointed at Kyoko.

Kyoko lifted her gaze from Kotonami-san and rested her eyes on me with a glazed look in her eyes. Then she looked at Yashiro-san who had just shown up behind me. Our eyes locked again as I moved closer to the her and put my hand on Kotonami-san's shoulder. I looked down.

Kotonami-san looked away from Kyoko for the first time since we got here and stared at me in horror, her eyes told me that she was on the urge of crying. What happened? I looked back at Kyoko.

"Mogami-san?"

She stared at me blankly with those vacant gold eyes of hers for a moment. She didn't answer.

I pulled over a chair and sat down, taking her small, delicate hand into my own two big ones and looked at it with concern. It was cold. I tore my gaze from it to look at her face which was still left blank.

"Mogami-san, are you alright?" She was looking at our intertwined hands until she looked back to me, then to Kotonami-san then to Yashiro-san then back to me. Her gaze was slow and sluggish but my eyes never left her face. What is wrong with her?

"Who… who are you people?" She asked in a blank, monotone tone.

I froze. I stared at her in disbelief.

She… she doesn't remember who I am?

I looked to my left at my manager's face which was also in shock. I looked to my right at Kotonami-san whose expression was hidden by her long black hair. Then I looked back at Kyoko.

I forced on my best fake smile as I composed my face to look happy. "Don't you remember? I'm Tsuruga Ren, your sempai in show business."

Her eyes showed nothing as no recollection of any memories stirred through them.

"Show… business?" she asked out flatly.

"Yes, that's right." Yashiro-san joined in. "You are an actress working under the company LME. You're also in the Love Me section."

Kyoko didn't answer.

"I knew it," Kotonami-san spoke up softly. I turned to look at her. Kyoko looked at her as well, her blank gaze still in place. "If Kyoko doesn't remember Tsuruga-san then there would be no way that she would remember anything else."

Kotonami-san lifted her head to look at me squarely in the face. "You _**will**_ help me recover her memories." She said directly to me with no trace of despair on her face or in her voice. Just fierce confidence.

_I could see why Kyoko calls her Moko-san, _I chuckled. But then my face grew serious as I looked at her face levelly. "Of course I will," was my response.

She smiled and her shoulders relaxed, "Thank you, Tsuruga-san."

She turned to look at Kyoko who had happened to fell asleep.

"I'll stay with her," she continued. "I'm going to see if I can get a lead to even a tiny feeling of familiarity from her." She looked up at me. "If you know anything that might help, say it. Anything," she said as she looked back down at Kyoko's sleeping form.

Immediately, my stone came to mind. I began to think intently.

_She did say Corn was a very precious person to her. I'll see if I can drop off at Darumaya's to see if I can go get it. But she might be still carrying it around in her bag._

"Kotonami-san, does she have her bag?" I asked as I stood up, releasing my hold on Kyoko's hand as I looked around the room.

"No," she answered. "You better ask Fuwa Sho. He was the last person with her."

My thoughts grew dark as I heard that singer's name. But I tried to stay composed.

"Do you know where he is?" I asked.

"He was here before I came," Kotonami-san answered. "But I'm not too sure if he's here anymore." She seemed to be remembering something as her eyes became slightly unfocused.

"Ren," Yashiro-san called, as I saw him open one side of the curtains as he looked down out the window. "Isn't that Fuwa-kun's manager and her car?" he asked. I walked over to where he was and looked outside. The sun was on the peak of rising and the city was just as quiet. I looked down to where he was referring to and saw Fuwa walking up to his manager who was getting out of the car.

This was my chance! If I can go get the stone, Kyoko might have some recollection of "Corn"! It's not much help to help her remember her current life but it's a start.

I turned around and walked out the door to catch up.

"Where are you going?" Yashiro called as he caught up. My long strides were thankfully making me not look like I was rushing to outside viewers but it seems like Yashiro-san had a hard time keeping up.

"I'm going to ask him where her stuff is." I answered briefly, hooking my right hand in my pocket.

Yashiro-san looked confused as he practically ran alongside me. I was just going at a slightly bit faster pace that I usually went for crying out loud!

"I'll explain later," I promised.

I looked behind my shoulder, "Take care of Mogami-san for me!" I called.

"Okay," Kotonami-san called back as I walked down the stairs calmly but swiftly. I figured that they would be faster than the elevator. For once in my life, I was thankful for these long legs of mine as they walked down two steps at a time. I quickly descended from the seventh floor and was in the lobby two minutes later.

The singer was just about go in the car of the backseat before when I came into view.

"Fuwa Sho!" I stated calmly but with enough volume to catch the singer's attention as the automatic entrance doors closed behind me.

--

**Kanae's POV**

_Tsuruga-san really cares for you, _I thought as I looked at Kyoko's sleeping face.

I looked out at the sunrise as I thought about what happened when I first came here.

"_What the? What are you doing here?" I screeched as I saw Fuwa Sho, the last person Kyoko would want to see, sitting next to her side. I saw that she was still unconscious._

"_You've come to stay with her? Good." he merely said as he passed by me without answering my question. I hated arrogant jerks like him. But I reigned back my anger and turned around to face him by flipping my hair back and giving him the cold look._

"_Answer me this, you bastard. If you had done anything to Kyoko that has led her to this state you have better spit it out now before I force it out of you."_

_The blonde singer stopped, his hand on the doorknob, before he turned and glared at me. "I didn't do a thing, you bitch," he spat. "I just called for an ambulance that just saved her life." _

_He opened the door and stopped before he turned back a bit slightly and mumbled something through gritted teeth. And with that, he stormed out of the room._

I brooded over the last few words that came out of the singer's mouth and wondered what his true feelings for Kyoko were.

"_If you haven't noticed, you're not the only one who cares for her."_

I blinked.

"ARRGGHH!!" I yelled as a put a hand through my hair. "Why do I even care?!?!"

I sighed as I put a hand under my chin and leaned my elbow on the bed.

I stared at my best friend and sighed quietly again and smiled.

"Kyoko, your life is a mess."

_**

* * *

A/N: **So now Kyoko has amnesia and what will happen? I hope to hear from your views and feelings on my writing ^^. Please tell me if you feel any OOCness or anything else you feel that I might have done. Once again, thank you to all of my reviewers!!_

_**Since it has been a constant, nagging thorn in my eye, I have corrected my spelling errors and the OOC of Ren on June 24, 2009, but just slightly. I thank you to all those who have pointed out my mistakes. I will update as soon as I can!!**_


	6. Hateful Encounter

**6. Hateful Encounter**

**Disclaimer: **_Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura._

**A/N: **_I finally felt like writing again. And once again, thank you for all of your support._

**

* * *

Sho's POV**

I turned my head to the sound of my name being called and I froze in my tracks. Aw swell! Meeting the second most hated person on my list after meeting the first, on the same friggn' day! Awesome.

I sighed, sticking my hands in my pockets and turning around to face Tsuruga Ren as he walked up to me. I knew instantly that he was here to see Kyoko. Geez, how did word travel out so fast?

"What do you want?" I asked, feeling irritated, as he calmly stopped in front of me. I barely noticed his four-eyes manager gasping for air as he stopped behind him.

God, how I hated his calm façade with his hands hooked in his pockets and that stupid, confident air around him. Tch. This guy's very existence pisses me off!

"Well?" I asked, still waiting for his answer. I didn't miss the fact that his eyes narrowed a bit. He answered bluntly:

"Mogami-san is in need of her things. Do you have her bag with you?"

My eyes widened. Oh, yeah. I distinctively remembered a white handbag with teal-colored hand straps that Kyoko always carried along with her.

"Tch. You want me to go get her stuff?" I said in a you're-kidding-me-no-freaking-way fashion. I had other stuff to do right now, like going home and sleep.

I noticed the celebrity clench his fists at his sides as his stare turned even colder.

"No," he said slowly, "I am merely asking you to bring me to Mogami-san's things." He glanced at Shoko-san who was still in the car, clutching the steering wheel nervously. "You're going back to Akatoki Agency Building anyway, right?"

Tch, this guy was pissing me off every second! Actually, I was planning to go back to Shoko-san's place to take a shower and go get some shut-eye. I was already a day behind in my schedule but I knew Shoko-san would help me fix that problem. I was up all night for crying out loud! But if Kyoko really needed that overly used, beat-up old bag of hers, fine, I'll do it. For her, if nothing else.

_Grrr, this is only for Kyoko, _I thought furiously as I turned around. My fists were shaking at my sides as it took every ounce of my willpower to _not _take a swipe at Tsuruga's face. "Fine, I'll take you to her stuff. But you have to get your own ride." I said as I opened the door and got in the backseat.

"Not a problem," he said as he walked past our car and got into his, with blondie tagging along behind him. You know, he sorta reminded me of a Labrador; following that bastard around all day.

"Humph" I huffed as I slammed the door shut.

**Normal POV**

Yashiro wasn't really happy with Ren's lack of response on the way back to Akatoki Agency. Even though he promised to explain everything later, he just said he needed to get something of Kyoko-chan's to trigger her memory. And speaking of memory, "Ren, why didn't you tell Fuwa-kun that Kyoko has lost her memory?" he asked.

Ren's eyes narrowed at this. He didn't know why he didn't tell Fuwa. It was just that there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head telling him to keep his mouth shut until the proper time. His mood turned darker than ever.

"Tell him yourself," he said a little harsher than necessary.

Yashiro smiled as Ren quickly realized his mistake and looked over to see Yashiro's face. Yashiro leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes and said, "I won't do that. I'm sure you have your reasons."

_No, no I don't, _Ren thought mournfully as they made a curve along the road.

--

"Hey look, it's Tsuruga Ren along with Fuwa Sho."

"What is he doing here? Aren't they rivals?"

"Well, from the looks of this tense atmosphere, apparently they are."

Onlookers from the agency were whispering quietly as they witnessed their Fuwa Sho walking along with his female manager with his big-time rival Tsuruga Ren and _his _manager right behind them.

The looks of both celebrity's faces sent chills down their spines. They both looked like they were ready to kill someone. _Not exaggerating._

Sho led Ren and the two managers to the storage room that was like hell to him because of the previous night. He sighed as he let Ren inside before him. Both managers had a childish quizzical look on their face as they examined the broken hinges of the door. There were still cracks in the wall from where the hinges were hanging.

Sho noticed this and sighed, "Don't ask," before he followed Ren into the room.

"Eh?" Yashiro and Shoko said in union.

Ren examined the dark room in distaste. So _t__his _was the place where Kyoko and Sho were stuck together for five hours? Nothing had better happened.

He scanned the ground for Kyoko's bag and spotted it lying on the side with its contents spilled out all in one direction near the left side of the room, close to the wall. He walked over and bent down, putting the scripts, books, papers, and pencils back in its place before he saw the thing he was looking for; the tiny, clip-on bag that held Kyoko's most treasured possession and the key to regaining back her memory. He laid the handbag aside, letting it lean onto the wall, as he took out the purple stone that he had once claimed to be magic to a gullible, yet adorable little girl. Ren smiled as he felt the familiar jagged edges on his fingers again.

He was so lost into his precious memories of his childhood times with Kyoko that he hadn't felt Sho walk up behind him.

Sho had seen Ren kneel down to pick up Kyoko's things and then also saw him take out something small from a tiny pouch. He got curious so he walked up behind him as Ren straightened up. He put whatever the small thing was back inside its pouch before Sho could see what it was. This didn't really bother Sho but he still felt a little irritated that he couldn't see the thing that Tsuruga Ren saw. His spoiled and childish nature was showing as he saw Ren pocket the pouch and pick up the bag with his back turned to him.

"Ready yet?" he asked, irritation growing.

Ren stopped mid-step, and turned around with a million-dollar smile on his face that would make any girl swoon. Sho took a step back.

_Scary, _he thought.

"Why yes actually," Ren said, answering Sho's previous question. Sho took another step back. It wasn't natural on how this actor can hide his anger under this priceless smile.

"But seeing on how impatient you are being," Ren continued, "I just have one question I would like to ask you." At this, the actor's stare turned cold-blooded. "I do not believe I asked you to do anything else for me but to take me to this room. You could have left anytime you wished, or do you expect to do anything else possibly related to me?"

_This guy… _

Sho felt his anger boil up to his face. He looked like he'd like nothing better than to beat up the man in front of him bloody.

The two managers sweat-dropped as they sensed the burning fire of hatred heating up the room.

**

* * *

A/N: **_I know it was short! Please don't kill me!! Chapter 4 has been corrected of any mistakes and OOCness for Ren and I have to say, it was a lame attempt at correcting it. Please go over the last chapter and tell me what you think. Thank you!_

**If you absolutely hated the twist of the story where Kyoko lost her memory, please read this bottom note that describes my feelings. This is not a hateful message to my fellow readers, just merely a description on how I feel. If you liked the twist and have no ill feelings toward this story whatsoever, PLEASE DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING NOTE!!!!**

[**A/N: **_This is going to be a slightly long author's note but just bear with me okay? I've finally decided to insert this A/N regarding my feelings about a few certain things after asking a few friends about what I should do. Recently, I've been getting some encouraging reviews to continue the story with the whole amnesia thing, and I thank you for that. But I've also been getting reviews that has been nagging me in obvious huge, big fat red letters that have been literally screaming out to me from the computer screen: "Oh, the drama. Not another amnesia/heroine related story. Omigod, I've seen this way too many times!!!" _

_(Sigh) I write my stories just to entertain myself and other people. If you do not appreciate that, then please keep those feelings remain unspoken. If you truly wish to tell me what you think, I don't mind PMs. But to all of my faithful readers who encourage me to go on with this story, I thank you so very much for all of your support._

_(I will delete this (the__** A/N**__) after a period of time so please try changing your way of thinking about the sudden twist in the story.]_


	7. Say what kind of Amnesia?

**7. Say what kind of amnesia?**

**Disclaimer: **_Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura._

**A/N: **_(__July 25, 2009) Sorry about the delay! Had writer's block for some time now. Well, enjoy!_

* * *

Kanae turned to the sound of the door opening behind her. Tsuruga-san stepped inside the room with his manager Yashiro-san closing the door politely behind him. Ren's face looked like he had just experienced a thousand years worth of hell during the past couple of hours he had left.

"Eh? Where's Fuwa?" Kanae questioned. She had at least expected him to come and check on Kyoko's condition. Apparently she overestimated him.

Ren's face, if possible, turned darker then when he first came in the room. He didn't answer as he walked over to the window on the other side of the room, leaving a frantic Yashiro to explain.

"Well, you see, Kotonami-san," Yashiro tried to explain, "You know how Ren and Fuwa-kun are not exactly the best of pals right?" Kanae nodded. There was no need to finish. It was clear that the two celebrities were at each other's throats the entire, or if not, the majority of their time together. Oh, how she could just picture it now. Tsuruga-san standing with a dark demonic aura that rivaled Kyoko's and Fuwa standing before him with a hell of a downright pissed look on his face.

Kanae sighed as she glanced at the famous actor, who was now staring out at the vast, bustling city of Tokyo. Oh well, might as well ask. "Tsuruga-san," The brunette didn't reply, but she knew she had gotten his attention. "Did you get what you needed? I assumed that you had some miraculous plan that could get Kyoko's memory back."

Before Ren could answer the door opened and a doctor and two nurses entered the room and smiled, "Shitsurei shimasu," the nurses bowed and walked over to Kyoko's bed. The nurses began to flit around Kyoko; fixing anything that needed to be fixed. Checking the IV, fluffing up the pillows, taking notes on their clipboard charts.

"Ah, you must be friends of Kyoko-san," the doctor smiled. He had a friendly face with slick black hair. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties. He moved the grey clipboard chart he was holding to his side as he stepped forward and shook Yashiro's hand. "My name is Akihiko Shuuhei. I am in charge of taking care on Kyoko as long as she is in custody." He looked over at Ren's impassive face and smiled. Ren nodded in acknowledgement.

Yashiro spoke up. "Ah, yes. I'm Yukihito Yashiro, Tsuruga Ren's manager," he said as he gestured toward Ren, "And this is Kotonami Kanae," he said, moving his hand to gesture at Kanae who bowed slightly. "We are all co-workers and friends of Kyoko-chan's from the company LME." He finished. Akihiko nodded in understanding.

"Akihiko-sensei," Kanae inquired as she stood from her seat, "Two hours ago, Kyoko woke up not knowing who we are or who she is. Is the amnesia really serious or is it temporary?" Her eyes clearly said that she was begging for the latter.

Akihiko-sensei's face turned serious. "This cannot be clarified at the moment. We need to wait until Kyoko-san wakes up once again." He looked at his clipboard. "She was lucky to not have a concussion."

He pushed his glasses up as he continued. "My guess is that Kyoko-san has retrograde amnesia." The three people in front of them looked confused. All three of them knew what amnesia was, but they were not too clear about anything specific.

"Allow me to explain," the doctor insisted. "Retrograde amnesia can also be divided into two categories: temporally graded retrograde amnesia and stable, temporally ungraded retrograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia commonly results from damage to the brain regions most closely associated with episodic/declarative memory. It is usually caused by trauma that results in brain injury. Though retrograde amnesia is often temporally graded, which means that remote memories are more easily accessible than events occurring just prior to the trauma, events nearest in time to the event that caused memory loss may never be recovered. A person who has suffered this injury will often feel as if the time, from what I say about 1–4 hours, before the injury were a dream."

_So that's why Kyoko's eyes seemed to haze over the first time I saw her, _Ren realized. He distinctively remembered the distant look in her eyes and her unfocused golden gaze as she looked upon him. He quickly tried to catch the last part on what Akihiko-sensei was saying as he waved those memories aside.

"If someone informs the injured person of the events just before the trauma, they will most likely recollect some of the happenings."

There was a moment of silence as the heavy amount of information sunk in.

"In other words, Mogami-san would most likely not remember anything from the previous night, even if she does regain full memory," Ren stated, trying to sum it all up.

"That is correct," Akihiko praised.

"But there is a chance for Kyoko to regain her full memory back." Kanae asked more than saying.

"There is." Akihiko smiled. The tension in the room visibly relaxed. "Even if there is no cure for retrograde amnesia, 'jogging' the victim's memory by exposing them to significant articles from their past will speed the rate of recall."

_Ugh, he really needs to dumb it down for me a little, _Kanae innerly groaned as she raked a hand through her hair. But with her miraculous acting skills, she managed to look like an intelligent lady who understood everything perfectly and was just brushing her bangs from her face on the outside. "By 'jogging', do you mean showing Kyoko familiar things that often showed up in her daily life?" she asked.

"Precisely." Akihiko praised once again. "My, you people are a smart bunch. If it was any other patient, I would have to spell out each and every word I say," he laughed warmly.

_Riiiight, _Kanae, Ren, and Yashiro all thought in a mixture of shame and embarrassment all at the same time.

To be honest, Ren had some trouble catching up, too. But of course he wasn't going to admit it. During the entire time Akihiko-sensei was explaining Retrograde Amnesia, he just got the words he didn't understand in his mind, and searched through the mind-implanted dictionary in his brain. Only an actor as great as him can manage to pull this off without looking like an idiot staring off into space.

Yashiro, on the other hand, understood everything perfectly. He was a fairly intelligent man who used common sense to guide him. The doctor's speech was indeed confusing but he figured it out. Even his looks said that he was smart. Or maybe it was just the glasses.

"So if possible," the doctor was saying, "Try bringing in things that might have been implanted into Kyoko's mind for a long time. Something vivid and familiar. Something she either loved, liked, hated; anything at all." He looked from face to face to face, who were all picturing a different thing in their heads at the exact same time. They all smiled. "Think of anything yet?" The doctor asked, smiling.

"Oh, yeah." Kanae grinned as she looked at Ren and Yashiro who both smiled back at her.

_This was going to be easier than I thought, _all three people thought at the same time.

* * *

**A/N:** _Kanae, Ren and Yashiro were a little too in synch in this chapter. Oh well, I liked it! The next chapter is when people from all over the manga come to meet Kyoko, each bringing along an unsual item for her to remember them by. I'm looking forward to see what I can do! I hope you are too! Please review. I want to hear the thoughts, views, and opinions from my readers as much as I can. Thank you!!_


	8. Peace and Quiet

**8. Peace and Quiet**

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Skip Beat._

**A/N: **_Well… I feel like schmuk. I check my e-mail for the first time in months and I'm like, "HOLY SH*T, MY FANFIC!!!!" I'm reaaaaaaally sorry! Forgive me (bows head frantically). I haven't been reading the manga lately and I just read the last few story is like so far behind the manga plot that I'm not too sure if I'm going to finish. Eeeeh what do I do?_

* * *

Kanae sighed as she put her bag and her purse on the little table next to the head of Kyoko's hospital bed. Luckily, this was a one patient occupant room. Kanae looked at the still-sleeping Kyoko as she recalled what Akihiko-sensei said to her before she left previously to go get her things.

"_Kanae-san."_

_Kanae turned from the doorway from which she was about to exit. Tsuruga-san was about to leave as he turned back to look at Kotonami-san and Akihiko-sensei who had called her name. Ren smiled. _

"_Kotonami-san," he said. "I need to inform Ogata-san that Kyoko is in no condition to go back to work. I also need to speak to the director of Box R. Call me as soon as Mogami-san wakes up?" he asked._

"_Of course," she answered, surprised. She had completely forgotten that Kyoko was one the main stars of not one but _two _popular dramas that were still in the process of filming [A/N: ugh, I might need to change that]. When Kyoko recovers her full memory, she would probably drop dead-flat on the floor and start bowing like a madman and start apologizing an eternity's worth of apologies… on the top of her lungs. _

_Ren smiled, obviously thinking the exact same thing. With one last wave, he left the two actresses, unconscious and conscious, with the still-smiling doctor in the small, sunlit room._

_Kanae turned her body to face the brunette doctor, giving him her full attention as the doctor pushed the brim of his glasses up his nose._

"_Kanae-san," he began again, "I need you to do me a favor. Kyoko right now has no memory of anyone dear to her so please refrain the people who come and visit her from being, er, _over-enthusiastic_ when seeing her."_

_Kanae must have looked puzzled, because the doctor smiled and explained, "Remember, this is a 'first time meeting' with her old friends. It would be a little strange for Kyoko to see a bunch of 'strangers' to come bursting into her room and start patting her on the back like their life-long friends."_

_Her eyes widened at this. "Oh."_

"_So remember, Kyoko is in need of a peaceful and quiet environment." He walked to the door._

"_Remember," he smiled, "Peace and quiet."_

_And with that, he left._

Kanae yawned and then stretched. She hated starting her days early so she wasn't exactly a morning person. She pulled a foldable chair over by the bed and sat down with her arms folded. After she left the hospital, she had went to go get her "memory item(s)" from LME and informed Sawara-san that she won't be taking any work for today. _Just _today, got that?

As soon as Kyoko woke up and remembered at least who _she _was, the other people of Kyoko's life could look after her, like the Darumaya couple, for instance. Kanae had to get back to work, even if it was a one day break.

Job offers come in; you miss 'em, you lose 'em.

Not that Kanae didn't want to stay by Kyoko's side, but she knew that Kyoko wouldn't be happy with her missing acting opportunities for just her sake. So as soon as Kyoko remembered Kanae and start jumping around yelling "Moko-san, Moko-san," she will leave. Politely, of course. Yes, this is what Kyoko would want. This is exactly what Kyoko would w—

"MOOOGGGGAMMIIIIIII-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!!"

"ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-SAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

_What the hell?_

Kyoko jumped a foot in the air from her mattress and Kanae fell face flat on the floor as the door busted open and two hysterical people came bursting in with tears in their eyes.

_Heh. Guess that means she's awake._

--

**Third-person POV (not really but sort of Kyoko's)**

_Kyoko was standing in nothing but a pit of darkness. She looked to the right, to the left, and even behind her. She was completely alone. _

'_Where am I?' she thought._

_She started walking slowly forward, not in any particular place in mind. What was this place? Why was she here? Wait, who was _'she'_? Uh-oh._

_She clutched her head frantically. Her breaths were quickly becoming pants of hyperventilation._

"_What is this?!? I can't remember anything!!" _

_In the midst of her panic, a small object appeared in the distance. A beam of light shone upon it, letting Kyoko see it in the darkness of her mind. Kyoko let go of her head, panic still clutching at her throat as she made her way warily to the object._

_It was a small, wooden antique table standing upon three legs. The table surface was round itself, but the table was not what had caught Kyoko's attention. It was the violet chest with golden outlines sitting in the middle of the table. It looked divine and precious. Something that the gods would have sent down to earth or what royalty would have kept hidden away. Kyoko slowly reached out to touch it, ready to yank her hand back if anything sprang out of it. Her hand touched the cover of the small, rounded chest and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was locked. She blinked and examined the table over and under as a sudden realization hit her._

_Where was the key?_

_BOOM!!_

_Kyoko clutched her head with fright. A loud bang echoed throughout her consciousness and then suddenly, the ground beneath her bare feet opened and she was sucked into a black vortex, the table and its chest disappearing from her sight. She squeezed her eyes shut._

_Gravity pulled on her body as she could feel the whistling of wind through her ears, her hair flapping wildly around her. Without warning, it stopped._

_Everything just… stopped._

Her eyes were still closed but she could feel that she had landed in a lying position. Was it safe? She slowly opened her eyes…

--

The infamous President Lory of LME and his voodoo-worshipping eight-year-old grand-daughter Maria were kneeling on the side of Kyoko's bed with their hands clamped together as if in prayer, with tear-eyed puppy eyes staring intently at Kyoko. She blinked twice as she took in what she saw, her bandaged head on flat lumpy pillows and the two strange people in front of her. What?

The President was in his usual flamboyant outfit, this time an Egyptian pharaoh. Maria was in her usual red dress with a ribbon in her hair which was as curly as ever.

_So much for peace and quiet, _Kanae thought as she slowly got up from the floor, and stood quietly, waiting for the scene to play out.

"Onee-sama, onee-sama! Please tell Maria -chan that it isn't true! You didn't really forget about Maria-chan and Ren-sama, did you?" Maria asked in big, brown teary puppy eyes.

"Hai?" Kyoko blinked. She just recently woke up to a door slamming open that hit the wall with an earth-shattering crack after being sucked into a vortex in a place of only God knows where. But strangely, her mind was perfectly clear and coherent enough to take in the things around her. Like the two people kneeling by her bedside, for instance.

"WAAAAAAHHHH!!" Maria sobbed. "ONEE-SAMMA DOESN'T REMEMBER US!!!!!"

"This is a truly tragic event, my dear granddaughter," President Lory sniffled as he held his said granddaughter, kneeling on the floor.

"But wait!" Maria looked up from her tears into Lory's face.

"She _will _remember us again, Maria." Lory said boldly with a swish of his Egyptian cape. "I'll make sure of it!"

"Ojii-sama," Maria said thankfully before throwing her head back and bawling her eyes out again, this time in hope and in gratitude, whilst turning the tiny grey room into a flooded kiddie pool.

_Sheesh, talk about being a total drama queen, _Kanae thought in annoyance as she stood there staring at the melodramatic pair with water slowing creeping up to her waist.

"Um, excuse me?" said a voice. Kanae's eyes widened. She turned to see her fully conscious best friend.

"Eh? Kyoko, you're awake?" Kanae said thankfully as she tried to get to her best friend's side.

"Kyoko," the girl mused in wonder. "Is that my name?" she asked as she looked up in question at Kanae.

"Yes," Kanae said excitingly. "You're name is Kyoko. Mogami Kyo-"

"Come Mogami-kun," President Lory said in his booming voice. "We shall accommodate you to your new nursing facilities." He said with a dramatic swing of his desert cape, as he was suddenly pushing Kyoko's hospital-bed-on-wheels out the door and down the hallway with Maria hot on his heels.

Which left Kanae standing there with a dumb-struck expression on her face.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO 'PEACE AND QUIET?!?!?" she screamed as she grabbed the bag she brought and her purse on the little drawing table and stormed off after the trio down the hallway disturbing patients and their nurses with her rampaging obscenities.

--

Meanwhile, Akihiko-sensei was sitting peacefully in his office humming a small tune, sipping a cup of coffee while looking at some papers. He turned to the bookshelf behind his desk and stood up from his chair to get a book.

Slender fingers touched the spines of a few titles as the black-haired doctor barely noticed a loud Egyptian pharaoh pushing an _occupied_ hospital bed with a small girl in a red dress hanging off the reeling, pass by his opened office doorway.

A black thundercloud, muttering very unpleasant oaths, shortly followed and stomped pass his office.

Akihiko-sensei looked over his shoulder and stared at the empty doorway.

"Hmm?"

* * *

_**A/N: **Yeah, I don't even know anymore. I'm starting up the next chapter already since I've just remembered how addicting it is to write =) __No promises though! But thank you so much to my readers/reviewers who haven't given up on me! Love you guys!!! 3 [P.S. should i change bits of the story to make it fit into the current manga plot line? i'm not too sure if I want to or even if I'm not supposed to. Opinions please!!!]_


End file.
